


A Friend in Need

by SkyymA



Category: Gintama
Genre: Blood, Comedy, Comrades, Comrades in Arms, Friendship, Gen, Other, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-06-03 07:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6601591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyymA/pseuds/SkyymA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Otose needs to go to Lake Toya, and she has everyone (Tama, Catherine, Kagura, and Shinpachi) go with her. Gintoki is left to take care of the snack bar while they are away for a few days. On the first day of their absence, Gintoki finds his friend Katsura in need of patching up from what looks to be like a bad head wound.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Friend in Need

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second Gintama Secret Santa fanficiton I have done. I was requested by my secret Santa recipient to showcase characters from Gintama caring for each other in a friendly way/showcase old comrades reminiscing on the past. This was submitted for the Gintama Secret Santa on Tumblr for 2015.

A Friend in Need

Made by SkyymA for Gintama Secret Santa

 

“I still don’t know why I can’t come with you guys,” retorted Gintoki.

“I told you,” continued Otose, “I need someone to watch the bar while I’m gone.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he responded, “but why do you need Kagura and Shinpachi with you?”

Shinpachi cut in saying “Because I’ve been there before. I’ll be a great tour guide for Otose.”

“But I really want to go! Lake Toya is a special place!” argued Gintoki.

Since it was the place Gintoki ordered his favorite bokuto, he was dying to check out the place where it was made. As much as Gintoki loved to argue, he made a promise to Otose that he would take care of the snack bar while they were gone.

Catherine, butted in as they were leaving, “Don’t you dare leave the bar a mess!”

“Can’t you just clean it when you get back?” Gintoki asked.

Tama tapped Gintoki on the shoulder. “If you leave the bar messy, I. Will. Be. Angry.” She said in a calm, almost frightening in her robot voice.

“Fine, alright, I’ll clean the place up!”

 

* * *

 

Day 1 without Otose:

“Uuuugh this sucks,” sighed Gintoki. Running the bar wasn’t fun at all. Since most of the customers came at night, all he had to do in the daytime was make sure everything was stocked. Otose promised she’d pay him if he did a good job of the place. That’s what sold him the most on doing the job.

It was already 3 in the afternoon and the chore list was done. Gintoki slouched behind the bar, reminding himself not to get drunk this early in the day. Otose would know if there was more alcohol missing than usual, so he had to be careful not to open anything.

There was still quite a bit of time before the place officially opened, so Gintoki decided to go out and get the latest Jump magazine.

_I haven’t been upstairs in a while_ he thought to himself. For most of the day he stayed in the bar so he had no idea if anyone would have gone to his place looking for Yorozuya. He needed to go back up to get his wallet anyway, so he made his way up the stairs.

Gintoki saw something strange. There was blood leading up from behind the alley way up to the stairs of the house. He grudgingly followed, not wanting to help anyone that day. On the top of the stairs by the balcony, he saw a familiar face sitting on the floor in front of the door to the Yorozuya.

It was Katsura. He slouched on the ground, with this breath heaving, as if he had trouble up the stairs. Blood soaked through his kimono near his chest.

“What the hell, Katsura!” yelled Gintoki. “What the hell happened?”

Gintoki expected Katsura to respond as he usually does, with “Gintoki I need your help. The Shinsengumi this and the Shinsengumi that…” etcetera. But Katsura just sat on the floor, staring at Gintoki. Unable to speak.

“Man, you got blood everywhere,” Gintoki kneeled beside Katsura, still waiting for an answer. He evaluated the wounds as they both stayed in silence. Katsura’s breath grew heavier.

“Fine,” muttered Gintoki. “It looks like I’ll take care of you”. He knew he couldn’t afford to take him to the hospital. He wouldn’t be able to put Katsura on his scooter. And he definitely knew he couldn’t afford to pay any hospital bills while Otose was gone.

Gintoki lifted Katsura up and took him inside. Katsura grunted in pain from the movement. Gintoki lead him to the kitchen; he really didn’t want to clean up blood off the tatami. Gintoki laid his friend on the ground while we went to get a pillow. Once he returned, he checked his friend’s head for a fever. Katsura seemed to be cool headed.

“Wait here a sec,” Gintoki told Katsura. “I need to go downstairs to get bandages from the shop. Don’t move anywhere.”

When Gintoki came back, he looked around Katsura’s abs for any open wounds. _Weird,_ he thought. _There’s nothing there. Just blood._ He then decided to check his friend’s head. _Ah, there it is._ There was a gash in the back of Katsura’s head. As he lifted it, he saw his pillow was drenched in blood.

Working quickly, Gintoki did what he could to stop the bleeding. The gash wasn’t big enough to need stitches, _it must have cut on a vein_ he thought. He wrapped his friend’s head the best he could.

“Wow,” Gintoki started. “This brings back memories, huh? Fixing each other up when we were figh-“

Gintoki stopped himself. He knew he wasn’t really one for reminiscing. That was always Katsura’s job. Gintoki worked hard to try and forget his days of being the White Demon. He looked at his friend, still blankly starring back.

_If Katsura isn’t talking, I should at least. Maybe talking about the old days will help him heal._

Gintoki stood up and headed for the stove. Cooking food for his friend now would be best, since Katsura had lost a lot of blood. He brought cool water and helped Katsura drink it while he had set up his rice cooker. Katsura seemed to enjoy the water, at least, since Gintoki finally saw a glimmer of reaction in Katsura’s eyes when he drank it. Gintoki headed back to the stove and started up a pan of oil to cook chicken in. His back was to Katsura.

“Heh, I remember you still sleep with your eyes open,” Gintoki started. “It used to scare the shit out of us in the ranks. At least now I know you aren’t sleep-“Gintoki turned around to check on Katsura. As he was saying, Katsura pulled himself up and leaned himself against the wall once more, the same position Gintoki found him in on the balcony. “That must be more comfortable, huh,” Gintoki motioned to Katsura. His injured friend still sat in silence.

Gintoki turned back around and continued cooking, adding veggies to the chicken. He continued to speak about the old days. Fighting along his then friends. Gintoki made sure only to mention the good parts. The few fun parts they had.

“Heh, remember when we first met Sakamoto? He threw up all over us! That was the worst! He still gets sea sick too, I guess you never really grow out of it. I would hate to get sick that easily. It’s enough when one of your friends has it, but imagine if we all got sea sick. That would suck!”

After the chicken and rice was done, he placed both in a bowl for Katsura. It was getting around the time when Gintoki needed to open the bar. As he walked over to Katsura, he noticed his friend’s eyes were closed, yet his chest was still breathing. _Whoa is he actually sleeping with his eyes closed?_ Gintoki thought. He placed the bowl and chopsticks on the floor for Katsura. Gintoki nudged his friend to make sure he was okay. Katsura opened his eyes again, and finally, lifted his head and nodded to Gintoki, signaling he was okay. Gintoki breathed a sigh of relieve.

“Hey, I made this food for you. Go ahead and eat as much as you can. I’ll be downstairs in the bar. Otose and the kids are gone on a trip so I need to run the place for them. Stay right here and don’t go anywhere, okay?”

…

 At 3 AM, Gintoki claimed last call. He desperately wanted to get back to his friend to make sure he was okay. He had to kick some of the bar’s patrons out. All of them grumbled.

“Get out, go on! This ain’t a hotel! You aren’t getting off easily just because Otose’s not here!”

Finally all of them left. There was a ton of cleaning to do. Glasses were everywhere, there was a spill on the bar, and one customer left his shoes on one of the tables. _Some idiot left barefoot!_ He thought.

He didn’t care at this point. He turned off all the lights and locked the place up. He’ll deal with it later. Gintoki rushed upstairs to check on his friend.

He walked in the kitchen and Katsura was not there. The water was empty, and the dishes were in the sink. Gintoki rushed out into the hallway and yelled “Katsura!” He checked the bathroom. He checked the living room. And finally he checked his bedroom.

What he found was his supposedly wounded friend. All wrapped up cozy in Gintoki’s bed and fast asleep. Katsura’s eyes were wide open, just like he usually sleeps.

_That fucking bastard! He just got out my bed and made himself cozy! Fine fine, just tonight he can sleep there. But tomorrow, he’s out._

Gintoki opted for sleeping on his couch.

 

* * *

 

Day 2 without Otose

Gintoki snored through the morning. He was exhausted. Running the bar took more out of him than he thought. Suddenly, a loud bang rang through as the door to his bedroom swung open.

“Gintoki!” Katsura spoke.

“Huh?” Gintoki slowly woke up.

“Gintoki, you need a new bed. Yours has a crook in it! It was completely uncomfortable! How in the world can you sleep in that thing every night? A true warrior needs to have the best materials to sleep with.”

“Yeah, stop nagging me, mom,” Gintoki said still half asleep. “I’ll get a new one tomorrow.” He turned over and fell off the couch. Suddenly he was awake. “Hey wait a second!”

Gintoki jumped up to look at Katsura. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“What do you mean? I just commented on your sleeping arrang-“Katsura started.

“No, no I mean, what the hell are you doing, looking like that,” Gintoki continued. “Yesterday you didn’t say a word and were completely helpless! Then you’re just suddenly better?? Get the hell out of my house if you’re so well!”

“Ah about that,” Katsura continued. “I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for helping me. And I’m sorry for not speaking yesterday. I was in a real predicament.”

Katsura’s calm words cooled Gintoki a bit. Gintoki was just glad his friend was back on his feet.

“Don’t worry about it,” Continued Gintoki. “I just hope you don’t drag your enemies to my door again from this. If you needed help in a fight, you can just ask.”

“Fight?  Oh ho,” Katsura started. “I didn’t get into a fight. I got hit in the back of the head with a baseball! The impact made me bite my tongue so I wasn’t able to talk! All is well dear friend.”

Gintoki stood up, ran to Katsura, and immediately smashed his head into Katsuras saying “You damn idiot!”

Katsura held his head in pain, just as the doorbell rang. Gintoki walked away from his friend in anger, _that damn bastard! He had me worried sick!_

He answered the door and standing before him was Elizabeth, in a baseball jersey. Gintoki starred at him blankly. Elizabeth held up a sign saying “Have you seen Katsura?”

Behind Gintoki, Katsura yelled out “Elizabeth! You found me!” He ran past Gintoki and out to the balcony. “I’m sorry I didn’t return to the game, I was in too much pain! But my comrade Gintoki helped me out! Right, Ginto-“

Gintoki slammed the door sideways and locked them both out. _I’ve got too much shit to deal with today, I don’t need this right now._

…

Gintoki ate breakfast, took a long bath, and got ready for the day. He cleaned up the bar as best he could. He knew if he left it a mess Otose would not pay him. If it was any other person, he wouldn’t care as much. But Otose meant a lot to him, and he wanted to do a good job. That night, he closed the bar early. He was still pretty angry about Katsura. Gintoki was mostly embarrassed. He had talked about a bunch of stuff he wanted to forget! Now he was worried Katsura would know he was a big softie and became worried Katsura would want to talk to him more. At midnight, as the last patron left, he locked up the bar. But this time he cleaned the heck out of it. Otose, Catherine, Tama, Kagura, and Shinpachi would be returning the next evening. He didn’t want to spend the day cleaning so he decided to do it all that night.

 

* * *

 

Day 3, Otose’s return

Gintoki slept in. It felt good to sleep without interruption. He would up around 1 in the afternoon. For once he felt completely refreshed. He knew the gang would be back around 5, just in time to open the bar. He got ready for the day but lounged around the house for the rest of the 4 hours. Finally it was 5, and he knew they’d be getting back soon. He made his way to the door to head downstairs. When he opened the door, a package was on the floor.

It read, “To: Gintoki. Thanks for your help.” The calligraphy looked too nice. Gintoki knew it was from Katsura. He opened the box, and inside were homemade meat dumplings. Gintoki smiled and took the box downstairs with him.

…

“We’re back!” yelled Kagura, as she entered the bar. Shinpachi followed behind, then Tama, Catherine, and Otose.

“Gintoki! We’re back!” yelled Shinpachi, looking around the bar for his friend. “Huh, where is he?”

“He could still be upstairs,” mentioned Tama. She lifted up her gun turned sweeper, “would you like me to find him for you?”

“Whoa no no,” Shinpachi continued, “That’s fine! Please don’t blow our doors down again!”

Otose walked near the end of the bar, “Wait, do you hear that?”

The five of them heard heaving breathing coming from the booth in the bar. They looked over, and slouched in the booth was Gintoki. His stomach was protruding as he took deep breaths as if he was pregnant. The box of dumplings on the table in front of him was empty. He had eating them all.

“What the heck are you doing?” Catherine said.

“I…Ate…all…the…dumplings” Gintoki said in between breaths.

“How many did you eat?” Otose asked.

Gintoki continued, “I…think…there…were….f…..fifty….”

Kagura gasped, ran over, and hit Gintoki on the head, “why didn’t you save any for me?!”

They all laughed. Otose walked over and noticed a letter next to the box. While the others continued yelling at Gintoki, she read the letter.

_“Dear Gintoki,_

_Thank you for helping me the other day. I enjoyed your cooking and your memories. It was nice to remember the fun times we used to have. I hope to have many more good memories along the path of our lives. Please enjoy these 50 homemade meat dumplings, made with the memories of all our past adventures. I will be back to try and recruit you once more to the ranks of the Joui forces._

_Your dear friend and comrade,_

_Katsura.”_


End file.
